Sunday March 26

Allianz Hurling League Division 1A

Clare v Waterford, Cusack Park, Ennis, 3pm

One thing for certain: whoever wins at Ennis will be guaranteed a Quarter-Final spot. A draw should even be good enough for the two teams, who clashed in the 2016 League Final and replay so this promises to be a hotly contested affair.

Similarities exist between Clare and Waterford in 2017, both have put four points on the board following mixed campaigns.

Clare lost to Cork, then recovered to beat Kilkenny. Tipperary proved too strong for the Banner in Thurles, but Clare eked out a win against Dublin. The result was all that mattered when Dublin were in Cusack Park.

“It is in line with the League as a whole basically because everyone is taking points off everyone,” captain Patrick O’Connor, who expects to return to action following a shoulder operation shortly, says.

“We have won our two home games and lost our two away games and we have one home game remaining.  The Cork game, obviously I wasn't playing, but the group were very, very disappointed with the performance that day. They rectified it to a point against Kilkenny, played well, got a good result, but again were frustrated with the Tipperary game.

“The Dublin game wasn't a great spectacle, but we would feel that there is a lot more in us performance wise. It has been up and down, but it is a tough time of the year to be dealing with.”

Clare haven’t played with a full deck yet either which is crucial according to O’Connor. “We've a couple of guys playing Under 21 Championship on Friday, who would be in contention for spots on Sunday, then you throw in the Fitzgibbon and the five Ballyea guys, a couple of guys like David Mc (McInerney), a long term injury, myself and Conor McGrath. There has been a change around in players, some guys wouldn't have played at this level before.

“Then you have guys like Seadna (Morey), who has had a nightmare with injuries, he is coming back. There hasn't been much continuity in the team over the last couple of years so that will take a while and you have a different style coming in as well.

“Taking all that into consideration a bit of fluctuation in the form would be to be expected. The endeavour has always been there from the guys, they are really applying themselves well in training.

“When all the jigsaw pieces do fit together hopefully it will be a team capable of competing strongly against Limerick on June 5. That is our priority.”

Waterford’s Munster Championship is etched in Deise minds too. Derek McGrath’s charges beat Kilkenny and Dublin away, but lost at Walsh Park to Tipperary and Cork. It has been that kind of League.

"Yeah, it has been up and down,” forward Stephen Bennett admits. “We've had two wins away and two bad performances at home. I suppose we are just focusing on putting in more consistent performances really, hopefully we can get a result on Sunday.”

WATERFORD: Stephen O'Keefe; Shane Fives, Barry Coughlan, Shane McNulty; Tadhg de Burca, Austin Gleeson, Conor Gleeson; Stephen Daniels, Shane Bennett; Kevin Moran, Pauric Mahony, Michael Walsh; Patrick Curran, Stephen Bennett, Brian O'Halloran.